Lasagna

Saturday  in mid-morning  Mystie

After being part of a Graceful Dinner at our house whereat I served a lasagna, a friend asked for my recipe. Instead of typing it out just for her, I thought I’d share it all around. This is the narrative version of the recipe. :) It’s evolved from the classic recipe found in the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook:

Meat Sauce:
3 c. browned ground beef & onions
[I brown my ground beef with a chopped onion per pound or two as a matter of course]
32 oz. tomato sauce
32 oz. diced tomatoes
1 T. Italian seasoning
1 t. each garlic & onion powder

[note: tomato stuff & seasons can be replaced with 64 ounces spaghetti sauce or the seasoning and powders can be replaced with a spaghetti seasonings packet; all these items contain corn syrup & starch]

Simmer the sauce for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix up the filling.

Filling:
2 eggs
3 c. cottage cheese
1 c. grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 c. sour cream

[I use Nancy's plain yogurt instead of sour cream, since it has no corn starch, unlike sour cream]

Boil 15 lasagna noodles in a pot of water for 5 minutes. They will not be cooked through. Drain and rinse in cold water until you can handle them.

Grate 1 pound mozzarella cheese.

In a 9×13 layer 5 lasagna noodles, half of the meat sauce, half the filling, and half the cheese. Repeat the layers. I like to add a sprinkling of grated cheddar cheese on top, also. A sprinkling of more grated Parmesan would really be tasty, too. The dish should be pretty full. The key to an over-the-top lasagna is that the layers be very thick. If you have a glass 9×13 you should clearly see the layers. Don’t skimp; be lavish in the piling of the filling. However, if you want a more ordinary lasagna, you can prepare all this the same way and split it between two 9×9 pans or a 9×13 and a smaller casserole and bake one and freeze the other for another day. In that case the layers will be thin and you might need a few more noodles.

At this point you can cover it and refrigerate overnight to bake the next day or cover in heavy-duty foil and freeze. It freezes best in a Pyrex and not so well in a foil-lined dish or aluminum dish. If you bake it cold, bake at 375 for 40 minutes covered with foil, then remove cover and continue to bake for another 30 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving it.

If you bake it straight from preparation and everything is still warm, bake it at 375 uncovered for 30 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

It’s best to place the casserole dish on top of a ridged cookie sheet to save you from a smoky kitchen and a dirty oven if some of it boils over.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 10th, 2007 at 10:34 am and is filed under Cook. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.